Cecilia Opatken-Ringdal (Toronto): “No Allies by Divine Right”: The Fall of Utopian Revolutionary Narratives in the 20th Century. Blackwater founder held secret Seychelles meeting to establish Trump-Putin back channel. The villainous Susan Rice is in the news yet again. Kira Lerner on the totally phony Susan Rice story, explained. Norman Podhoretz still picks fights and drops names: The former editor at Commentary magazine looks back at the fierce, argumentative parties of New York’s intelligentsia (and more). Order from noise: Felix Maschewski and Anna-Verena Nosthoff on Cambridge Analytica, cybernetic governance and the technopolitical imaginary. Scott McLemee reviewsThe Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why it Matters by Thomas Nichols.

From Fusion, Ashley Feinberg and Anna Merlan on the conspiracy theories of Trumpland: A compleat and comprehensive bestiary. A brief list of conspiracy theories Sean Spicer would like the press to investigate instead of Russia. Masha Gessen on Russia: The conspiracy trap. How to talk about Trump and Russia without sounding like a conspiracy theorist. Why Republicans can’t find the big voter fraud conspiracy: If the last federal investigation is any guide, the answer is simple — it probably doesn’t exist. Alexandra Rosenmann on the 5 most deranged conspiracy theories from GOP mega-donors’ bizarro climate conference.